Clone Trooper
Clone troopers, nicknamed "Boys in White", "Men in White", "Meat Droids", "Wet Droids", and "White Jobs", also known as Republic troopers, Republic troops or Republic soldiers, ' '''were highly skilled clone soldiers that served within the Grand Army of the Republic. Clone Troopers were bred on the aquatic planet of Kamino, beyond the Outer Rim, by the native Kaminoans who used the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Jango Fett as a template. They were formally introduced to the Galaxy during the First Battle of Geonosis, which spawned the Confederacy of Independent Systems and began the Clone Wars. The clone troopers fought for the Galactic Republic for the next four years, led by Jedi Commanders and Generals on the battlefield, but most of their loyalty was directed towards The Supreme Chancellor, Sheev Palpatine. During their creation, all clones were implanted with control chips in order to make it impossible for the troopers to refuse Order 66. This order compelled the troopers to kill their Jedi leaders and was used at the end of the war. After wiping out the Jedi Order, and the Galactic Republic transitioning into the Galactic Empire, the clone troopers saw little service to the New Order, as the Kaminoan cloners rebelled against the Empire and the cloning projects were shut down. All remaining troopers were then integrated into the Imperial Army's Stormtrooper Corps, and all new Imperial recruits were volunteers. '''History' Origin The Clone Army was originally commissioned in 32 BBY by Sifo-Dyas, who believed that the Galaxy would soon see galaxy-wide war and, without the support of the Jedi Council, he secretly commissioned the Kaminoan cloners to create a clone army for the Republic. Dyas was later killed by the Pike Syndicate, on orders from Darth Sidious (secretly the Chancellor of the Republic) and Darth Tyranus, who then took over the project. Tyranus recruited the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett to become the clone template for the army. To speed up the process, the cloners had the clones age at twice the rate of ordinary humans, so that the army would be ready quicker. Jedi Discovery About a decade later, Obi-Wan Kenobi, in pursuit of Jango Fett for the attempted murder of Senator Padmé Amidala, was led to find Kamino, and as such the Clone Army. Informing the Jedi Council, Kenobi pursued Fett and followed him to Geonosis where he was captured by the Separatists. Clone Wars The clones were deployed to Geonosis in an attempt to destroy the Separatist Alliance, which later became the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and rescue Kenobi, along with Anakin Skywalker and Amidala. While the battle was won, the CIS and their leadership still escaped, and the Clone Wars began. Clone troopers fought on numerous fronts against the CIS droid armies and organic militias, in tandem with the Republic Navy and pro-Republic planetary defense forces. Because the Supreme Chancellor refused recommendations that the Grand Army should annihilate key Separatist strongholds in an attempt to finish the war early on, the clone troopers saw action on hundreds of thousands of planets. Late in the war, CT-5385 "Tup" of the 501st Legion experienced a control chip malfunction that caused him to fire on and kill the Jedi General Tiplar. He was promptly restrained and later sent back to Kamino for study, which was a front for the Kaminoans to cover up the fact that his chip malfunctioning had resulted in an early activation of Order 66. Tup ultimately perished, but 501st Legion Advanced Recon Commando RC-5555 "Fives" became convinced that the inhibitor chips were some sort of CIS plot against the Jedi and the Republic. Fives was permitted to plead his cause to the Supreme Chancellor, but the meeting led to Fives believing that Palpatine was in on the plot, and the ARC trooper attempted to assassinate him. Jedi Master Shaak Ti prevented the attempt, and Fives went on the run. Fives tried explaining the situation to the 501st Legion's Jedi General, Anakin Skywalker, but the clone soldier had been drugged by Kaminoans during his time on Kamino, limiting his coherency. An intense standoff occurred with Commander CC-1010 "Fox" and other members of the Coruscant Guard, which resulted in the death of Fives. The Jedi never learned of the existence of the inhibitor chips, but some clone personnel learned of the control chips and secretly had their's removed. Order 66 Near the end of the war, the CIS launched an all-out attack on Coruscant in an attempt to kidnap the Supreme Chancellor. Though the cyborg General Grievous successfully removed Palpatine from Coruscant, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi challenged him and his master Darth Tyranus aboard Grievous's flagship, the Invisible Hand. Skywalker slew Darth Tyranus. Clone forces were deployed across the galaxy in various attempts to finish off the Confederacy. General Grievous was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Utapau, with aid from the 3rd Systems Army, 7th Sky Corps and 212th Attack Battalion. Chancellor Palpatine revealed his true face to the Jedi as a Sith Lord, prompting a team of them to attempt an arrest. Skywalker protected Palpatine, repelling the Jedi attack and killing Mace Windu. He was dubbed Darth Vader. Palpatine activated Contingency Order 66, ordering all clone forces to execute any Jedi in their vicinity. Vader led the 501st Legion in a raid on Coruscant's Jedi Temple, and the events that followed led to the Galactic Republic transitioning into the Galactic Empire. Post-Clone Wars After the end of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Empire held the known Galaxy in the grasp of an iron fist. Their authoritarian and humaneocentric stances caused many worlds and star systems to revolt. This included the Kaminoans, who used their cloning facilities to create a new breed of clone called Anti-Troopers. The 501st Legion invaded the planet and shut down the Kaminoans' attempted rebellion, and the cloning program was deemed too dangerous and was shut down. All remaining clone troopers were then integrated into the Imperial Army's Stormtrooper Corps. Other attempts at creating clones for usage by the Galactic Empire proved unfruitful, so they mass-recruited human volunteers instead. A few units of clones had to be quietly exterminated, due to their unwavering support for the abolished Galactic Republic. Training Clone troopers were rigorously trained on Kamino. Before being shipped into combat, all troopers held the rank of cadet and were placed into squads. This was in an effort to get the troopers to learn to cooperate and work together. These training sessions were overseen by mercenaries hired to train the troopers, other clones who had grown enough to have some combat experience, and Jedi General Shaak Ti. Any troopers who did not pass the training weren't allowed to become soldiers, and instead took up the roles of janitors and other menial roles. All clone troopers before the late Clone Wars were taught to sing the Vode An, a Mandalorian war chant that instilled a sense of brotherhood in the clones. Certain troopers who displayed exceptional ability were sometimes selected to become Advanced Recon Commandos, and even more rarely, Republic Commandos. During the late war, some regular trooper squads were given a variation of the Republic Commando training. At the beginning of the war, troopers were automatically given rank as they completed their training, and some had unique designations because of it. These unique designations were discontinued soon after the beginning of the war, however. Other personnel received ranks as a result of promotions. Equipment Before the Clone Wars, all standard troopers were given Phase I clone trooper armor. This armor was later replaced by Phase II armor around the Battle of Mon Cala. At the beginning of the war, troopers with ranks higher than corporal were given colored armor that identified them as that rank. This was quickly phased out after, and troopers were allowed to paint their armor for the purpose of unit recognition and customization. The troopers were armed with a wide variety of weapons, including the DC-15a blaster rifle, DC-15s blaster, DC-17 Heavy Pistol, thermal detonators, and EMP grenades. Many other troopers were also equipped with riot shields and some with Z6 Rotary cannons. Specializations The need arose during the Clone Wars for specialized units, whether they be for certain environments or combat situations. * Advanced Recon Commandos—Also known as ARC troopers, were elite clone troopers that exceled and received further training. ARC troopers served the Special Operations Branch, but some were placed within standard Grand ARmy units. * Advanced Recon Force troopers—Also known as ARF troopers, were clone troopers who specialized in stealth, equipped with light armor, and trained to pilot speeder bikes and the All Terrain Recon Transport. * Biker Advanced Recon Commandos—Also known as BARC troopers, clone troopers equipped to use BARC speeders who possessed skills similar to an ARC trooper. Some BARC troopers also piloted walkers. * Communications clone troopers--Equipped with hardened radio packs with extended antenna, communications troopers were tasked with providing effective communications between various units and starships, and were more effective than the comms borne by average troopers during instances of enemy communications jamming. * Clone cold assault trooper—Clone troopers equipped with cold weather gear to be able to operate in frigid environments, they were sometimes referred to as snow troopers. * Clone''' commandos'—Clones specially bred by the Kaminoans to be the elite force of the Grand Army; they received specialized training and equipment. They were also known as Republic Commandos, and served in the Special Operations Branch, though some squads were attached to other Grand Army units. Later in the war, some regular clone trooper squads were given specialist training equivalent to that of the commandos. * '''Clone flame troopers'—Specialized clone troopers with fire-resistant armor and flamethrowers. * Clone blaze troopers--Clone troopers who utilised large thrusterpack-powered exoskeletons and wrist-mounted flamethrowers in combat. * Clone gunners—Clone troopers equipped to man AV-7 Anti-vehicle Artillery Cannons and other emplacements. * Heavy Gunner—Clone troopers equipped with stronger armor and Z-6 rotary blaster cannons, or other heavy or demolitions weapons. * Clone naval commandos--Clone troopers selected to wear a lighter variation of the Grand Army armour scheme who served as security aboard space-based Republic vessels and installations. Their light armour allowed them to move quickly, and they were ideal in close quarters combat. * Clone navigation officers—Clone troopers who assisted in crewing starships in the Republic Navy. * Clone ordnance specialists—Clone troopers that received specialized training in arming and diffusing explosives. * Clone jetpack troopers—Clone troopers equipped with a jetpack and missile launcher, grenade launcher, or blaster rifle. More commonly known as jet troopers. * Clone paratroopers—Clones trained for airborne assaults via thruster packs, parachutes, hang gliders and air vehicular insertion. * Clone pararescuers--Operators equipped with enhanced rebrethers and pouches, tasked with recovering and providing medical treatment during rescue operations. * Clone riot troopers—Clone troopers with specialized riot control training, often equipped with shields and stun batons. * Clone scout troopers—Clone troopers with light armor and trained in reconnaissance. Some clone scout troopers' training and armour inter-lapped with that of the ARF troopers, but there were numerous exceptions. * Clone SCUBA troopers—Clone troopers equipped with underwater armor and weaponry. * Clone Shadow troopers—Clone troopers equipped for stealth reconnaissance missions, employed by the Special Operations Branch. Their armour allowed them to disguise themselves by placing other armour plating over it. * Clone sharpshooters—Clone troopers trained to be snipers. * Clone shock troopers—Clone troopers bred especially for the Coruscant Guard, though other units existed that served as security, military police, or elite front line combat units. * Clone trooper flight crews—Clone troopers that have received specialized training in ship maintenance. Many of these personnel were also clone engineers. * Clone trooper pilots—Clones bred to pilot starfighters and other vehicles; equipped with specialized armor. Some clones developed a knack for piloting vehicles during basic training and were permitted the pilot specialisation, though this was rare. * Clone medics—Clone troopers that served as medics. * Medical officer clones—Clone troopers that had specialized medical roles. * Special ops clone troopers—Clone troopers trained to be stealthy and equipped with advanced gear, they served in the Special Operations Branch. * Stealth clone pilot—Clones that were trained to pilot stealth ships; equipped with specialized armor, they served under the Special Operations Branch. Category:Galactic Republic Category:Grand Army of the Galactic Republic Category:Republic Navy Category:Republic Intelligence Category:Stormtrooper Corps Category:Clone Wars Category:Rise of the Empire Era Category:Clone